SEC. 6.²¹⁷ Vacant.

SEC. 7.²¹⁸ All general elections in this State shall be
held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
month of Nov., in the year in which they shall occur.

SEC. 8.²¹⁹ Vacant.
SEC. 9.²²⁰ Vacant.
SEC. 10.²²¹ Vacant.
SEC. 11.²²² Vacant.

ARTICLE XVI.²²³
THE REFERENDUM.

SECTION 1. (a) The people reserve to themselves
power known as The Referendum, by petition to have
submitted to the registered voters of the State, to approve
or reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act of the
General Assembly, if approved by the Governor, or, if passed
by the General Assembly over the veto of the Governor;

(b) The provisions of this Article shall be self-executing;
provided that additional legislation in furtherance thereof
and not in conflict therewith may be enacted.

SEC. 2.²²⁴ No law enacted by the General Assembly
shall take effect until the first day of June next after the
session at which it may be passed, unless it contains a
Section declaring such law an emergency law and necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public health or
safety and is passed upon a yea and nay vote supported by
three-fifths of all the members elected to each of the two
Houses of the General Assembly. The effective date of a
law other than an emergency law may be extended as
provided in Section 3 (b) hereof. If before said first day of
June there shall have been filed with the Secretary of the
State a petition to refer to a vote of the people any law or
part of a law capable of referendum, as in this Article
provided, the same shall be referred by the Secretary of
State to such vote, and shall not become a law or take effect
until thirty days after its approval by a majority of the
electors voting thereon at the next ensuing election held
throughout the State for Members of the House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States. An emergency law shall
remain in force notwithstanding such petition, but shall
stand repealed thirty days after having been rejected by a
majority of the qualified electors voting thereon. No meas-
ure creating or abolishing any office, or changing the salary,
term or duty of any officer, or granting any franchise or
special privilege, or creating any vested right or interest,
shall be enacted as an emergency law. No law making any
appropriation for maintaining the State Government, or
for maintaining or aiding any public institution, not ex-
ceeding the next previous appropriation for the same pur-
pose, shall be subject to rejection or repeal under this
Section. The increase in any such appropriation for main-
taining or aiding any public institution shall only take effect
as in the case of other laws, and such increase or any part

thereof specified in the petition, may be referred to a vote
of the people upon petition.

SEC. 3.²²⁵ (a) The referendum petition against an Act
or part of an Act passed by the General Assembly, shall be
sufficient if signed by three percent of the qualified voters of
the State of Maryland, calculated upon the whole number
of votes cast for Governor at the last preceding Gubernato-
rial election, of whom not more than half are residents of
Baltimore City, or of any one County. However, any Public
Local Law for any one County or the City of Baltimore,
shall be referred by the Secretary of State only to the people
of the County or City of Baltimore, upon a referendum
petition of ten percent of the qualified voters of the County
or City of Baltimore, as the case may be, calculated upon the
whole number of votes cast respectively for Governor at the
last preceding Gubernatorial election.

(b) If more than one-third, but less than the full number
of signatures required to complete any referendum petition
against any law passed by the General Assembly, be filed
with the Secretary of State before the first day of June, the
time for the law to take effect and for filing the remainder
of signatures to complete the petition shall be extended to
the thirtieth day of the same month, with like effect.

If an Act is passed less than 45 days prior to June 1, it
may not become effective sooner than 31 days after its
passage. To bring this Act to referendum, the first one-third
of the required number of signatures to a petition shall be
submitted within 30 days after its passage. If the first
one-third of the required number of signatures is submitted
to the Secretary of State within 30 days after its passage,
the time for the Act to take effect and for filing the
remainder of the signatures to complete the petition shall
be extended for an additional 30 days.

(c) In this Article, "pass" or "passed" means any final
action upon any Act or part of an Act by both Houses of
the General Assembly; and "enact" or "enacted" means
approval of an Act or part of an Act by the Governor.

(d) Signatures on a petition for referendum on an Act
or part of an Act may be signed at any time after the Act
or part of an Act is passed.

SEC. 4.²²⁶ A petition may consist of several papers,
but each paper shall contain the full text, or an accurate
summary approved by the Attorney General, of the Act or
part of Act petitioned. There shall be attached to each paper
of signatures filed with a petition an affidavit of the person
procuring those signatures that the signatures were affixed
in his presence and that, based upon the person's best
knowledge and belief, every signature on the paper is
genuine and bona fide and that the signers are registered
voters at the address set opposite or below their names.
The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the form of
the petition, the manner for verifying its authenticity, and
other administrative procedures which facilitate the peti-
tion process and which are not in conflict with this Article.